Water-soluble ions in nano/ultrafine/fine/coarse particles collected near a busy road and at a rural site

This study investigated water-soluble ions in the sized particles (particularly nano (PM0.01–0.056)/ultrafine (PM0.01–0.1)) collected using MOUDI and Nano-MOUDI samplers near a busy road site and at a rural site. The analytical results demonstrate that nano and coarse particles exhibited the highest (16.3%) and lowest (8.37%) nitrate mass ratios, respectively. The mass ratio of NO3− was higher than that of SO42− in all the sized particles at the traffic site. The secondary aerosols all displayed trimodal distributions. The aerosols in ultrafine particles collected at the roadside site exhibited Aitken mode distributions indicating they were of local origin. This finding was not observed for those ultrafine particles collected at the rural site. The mass median diameters (MMDs) of the nano, ultrafine, and fine particles were smaller at the traffic site than at the rural site, possibly related to the contribution of mobile engine emissions.